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Friday, January 27, 2012

Good Writing Day - Bad Writing Hangover

I have a writer's hangover. What, you may ask, is a writer's hangover? Well it is when you spend the day writing and you forget to drink water, you drink a lot of caffeine, you don't move much, and you stay up too late. I woke up this morning feeling like I had a desert hanging out in my mouth, my brain felt like it was two sizes too big for my head and somebody had put sandpaper under my eyelids or maybe that was the dust from the desert in my mouth blowing into my eyes. I groaned piteously realizing I had a writer’s hangover and I knew exactly why.

Moderation is going to be key to doing these writing challenges. I thought I was keeping it balanced but yesterday I added an extra 30 minute session and I realized I needed to just stick with the three. It will have to do. Either that or I am going to have to not Twitter chat so much between sessions, move away from my laptop, dance (like I love to do) while cleaning house, and remember to drink lots of water. Oh and no more staying up until 2:30 in the morning. I am just getting too old for that. I need my beauty sleep.

Have you ever had a writer's hangover? I would love to hear what created it and what your remedies are for it. As for me… I took four Advil, drank a bottled water, Green juice, Gatorade, and two, yes two cups of Chai tea. Then I prayed for some semblance of normalcy to return to my head.

6 comments:

It's going to be frozen grapes, apples, and oranges for me, today....and possibly chai and definitely sweet coffee, as long as it lasts....

We have no water, today - which I didn't discover until after Jim left for work - in our only car!

I often write all night - after being up all day. I awake 3-5 hours after I go to bed, groggily.

Jim is usually up first, so he hangs with the kids before work, and wakes me (On the few occasions I don't wake naturally or to the sound of kid-noise) in time to have some coffee with him before he heads off to work in the early afternoon.

Usually, the flow of the day eventually pulls me in, and I revive.....so that I can stay up that night, too...and do it all again....

When the words are there, the words must come out, or my brain will not slow down enough to allow me to sleep, anyway.....

And, when the words aren't there, sleeping well and dreaming vividly brings them in again....

Oh No! So sorry to hear that. We tend to have a couple of cases of bottled water around here. I know it isn't eco friendly (even though we do recycle) but even with our water being filtered I still can't stand the taste of it.

I use to stay up and do all nighters whether it was writing or reading, but I just can't do it anymore. Not and stay sane. Or rather not without killing someone. :D

I have a whole houseful with my partner, daughter and granddaughters (two and a half and a newborn) I have to have my wits about me.

I was doing my first NaNoWriMo this past November and, with my crazy illnesses I had no idea when I was going to be too symptomatic to write. So I went brute-force on the first couple of days. I think day 3 was the worst (well, best writing day EVER): I made a tray of brownies, bought CocaCola (I don't drink coffee) and started writing. I did not sleep that entire night. I went to bed at 9am.When I woke up I had a writer's hangover like nobody's business! I LOVED IT! I felt so accomplished. I felt a little maniacal. I went back to write again.I made the 50K goal for NaNoWriMo in two weeks!!

Love this. I've never heard of writer's hangover before, but I certainly know what you mean. I eat dark, dark chocolate, drink redbull, and listen to upbeat music without words (usually Fresh Air or George Winston) to keep writing.

To get over a writing hangover, I dance, walk around the block, or zone out in front of the TV for a while. I can't write at night, although I love your bio and your comment, "working with shadow and embracing those parts of me that were hidden." I soo get that.

It was actually something I just thought of this morning when I woke up feeling so awful. I am very conscious of how I feel and what I have done the day before so when I put the two together voila, Writer's Hangover. :D Glad you enjoyed it!

You sound like my kind of writer. I love to dance and move to help with my inspiration and you can find more about that on my other blog, http://www.shadowrhythms.org it is also where you will find all the juicy shadow posts.

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Grab a cup of tea or coffee (oh what the heck, get a danish too!) and sit a spell. You might want to grab your notebook and pen because you never know when you will be inspired to write down a quote, or jot down a poem of your own. Words are like that, they take you on a journey and the next thing you know you are breathing life into your own magical world of words.